


Joe & Nicky: an analysis of Joe waiting for Nicky to wake up

by beautifulhigh (imaginentertain)



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Essay, M/M, Not Fic, full on meta, in which Jen does an analysis, looking at the relationship between Joe and Nicky, non-fiction, through the scene in which Joe is kneeling by Nicky's body
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:14:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25694101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginentertain/pseuds/beautifulhigh
Summary: I said that I could write an essay about the few seconds of the scene in Merrick's where Nicky is dead and Joe reacts.So I did.
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 53
Kudos: 232
Collections: The Old Guard Resources





	Joe & Nicky: an analysis of Joe waiting for Nicky to wake up

**Author's Note:**

> In this essay I will analyse and explore the few seconds of Nicky's death and resurrection and Joe's reaction to it in order to explore the depth and nuances of the relationship. I intend to illustrate how the acting and framing choices reveal layers to the relationship and how this ties into the found family of the Old Guard as well as the in-world premise of the impermanent immortality.

As reposting is bad I will just link to two image sets that I used for reference in this essay. Consider this my bibliography.

Source 1: [a gif set](https://kirkmcoy.tumblr.com/post/625338919178862592/the-old-guard-2020-dir-gina-prince-bythewood) of Nicky's resurrection by user @kirkmcoy

Source 2: [an image set](https://stydiaeverafter.tumblr.com/post/624269614243774464/) of Joe during this scene by user @stydiaeverafetr

**INTRODUCTION**

The lead up to the moment has to be considered with the moment itself. They have been cornered, ambushed, surprised by Keane and his forces taking out a wall which they were using for shelter and protection – or rather, to shelter and protect Andy.

The team, the family, have recently learned that her time is going to come to an end, that she is no longer healing. The next time she dies she will not come back. They have heard the story of Lykon, they have witnessed her grief over this. They have heard about Quynh and they know that at some point? She would have – or will – drown for the last time. All of Quynh's deaths used up at the bottom of the cold ocean.

Death is a thing that has come into their lives in a way that it hadn't previously for our immortals. They have had a reminder of their history and their limitations as they initiated Nile. More specifically Joe and Nicky have been held and experimented on, possibly watched the other pushed beyond the point of death if not to it. They have watched pieces of the other be cut out and they will have watched as those wounds knitted back together, I suggest with relief rather than expectation.

Joe and Nicky have felt the crux of Booker's betrayal: I saw a Tumblr post which said that their anger was justified (as explained in [this post](https://grizviser.tumblr.com/post/624907266669297664/okay-so-ive-seen-a-lot-of-people-say-that-joe) by Tumblr user @grizviser) because it was they who suffered and they who watched the person who was " _all and more_ " to them suffer, and I have to agree. I feel that of the five of them they were the ones who understood Merrick's cruel and amoral intentions and plans best of all. They saw it, first-hand. Nicky watched as Joe was stabbed purely for Merrick's own tangible confirmation and as Kozak saw nothing but glory and recognition ( _"What do you see?"_ // _"The Nobel Prize."_ ) instead of something that was a part of them, a gift they had been given for whatever reason, a gift that had allowed them to, as Nicky said at the start of the film, _"do some good"_.

They have never sought glory or fame or riches. In fact they have actively tried to keep out of the public eye, actively sought to be the 'ghost in the crowd'. When Andy admonished Booker, telling him "We don't do repeats" we understand why. When Booker tells Nile that touching people's lives means they get to know your secrets, we understand why. Theirs is a transient life out of necessity for those around them, not because they are keen to protect what they have but because they know that it will be the best outcome for all: and yes, that includes themselves.

Another Tumblr post (by user @of-scythia) stated that Nicky can be defined as Acts of Service: he still asks about the girls in the aftermath of the Kill Floor. He pushes for them to seek out Nile because he remembers and he knows she is _"more alone than she has ever been"_. He doesn't want her to be alone, he doesn't want her to be scared, not when they have answers and they can help. This is, on a smaller scale maybe, doing the good he wanted to do at the start of the film. He sleeps as the little spoon, putting himself between Joe and any outside harm. When they wake after Nile's nightmare the slight curving of Nicky's shoulder almost leans his torso back, providing further coverage for Joe. Luca's subtle shift in his body screams Nicky's heart and feelings for Joe.

In the same post Joe was defined as Words of Affirmation: he will tell you and he will show you how he feels. He takes the lead in answering Nile's questions with additions from Nicky and Booker, he subtly flirts with Nicky over the table. He has the whole Van Speech (which I will come to later) and the head touch to reassure Nicky. When the four of them are in the lab together he is the one shouting at Booker for his betrayal while Nicky tries to calm him, he's happy for Book to be the 'man left behind' against Nile's determination that they are all leaving. Because of Booker the man that Joe loves suffered, possibly died in the gas attack, had pieces of him carved out. He is angry. He is angry not only at the betrayal but that they were exposed to this risk and pain – _"Just because we can't die doesn't mean we stop hurting"_ as Booker said – they are immortal, they are not invulnerable.

They both refer to Andy as _"Boss"_ but there is love there. This is a found family, she is a part of that. A very big part of that. She is the one who leads them, guides them. _"I always go first"_ tells us exactly what the structure is here. She is, for want of a familial phrase, the mother of the group. And now their mother is dying, will die. Joe and Nicky have had centuries with her and almost as long with each other (I assume that they did not meet Andy right after meeting each other on the battle fields) and the only other constant in their life is going to be taken away. They have not had time to process this, what with being more concerned with their own survival and escape. An escape that was in motion when the wall was blown in.

In this essay I will analyse and explore the few seconds of Nicky's death and resurrection and Joe's reaction to it in order to explore the depth and nuances of the relationship. I intend to illustrate how the acting and framing choices reveal layers to the relationship and how this ties into the found family of the Old Guard as well as the in-world premise of the impermanent immortality.

**THE FIGHT**

When the wall is blown in they are separated. Andy, Nile, and Booker move out, leaving Joe and Nicky in the smoke-filled room. Keane has an advantage with his gas mask and, as Nicky is getting to his feet, he is kicked and beaten back down. Joe intervenes, the two of them working to remove Keane's mask in an attempt to level the playing field. At nearly 1000 years old each Joe and Nicky have a wide range of fighting skills but so does Keane. He knows the terrain, he's not dealing with the shocked senses that would have come from the explosion, and his exposure to the gas is only recent. This allows him to work on the one who is attacking him, taking them out before moving to the next.

Joe and Nicky's actions after that first kick are all focused on protecting the other, on getting Keane off them, away from them, but also on giving the others time to get away. This is a battle that needs to be fought in the here and now, not a moving one like when they stalked the corridors looking for a way out. They are all contained in this location and there has to be a resolution to this fight in the here and now.

It's when Keane is able to get Nicky onto his back, wind him with a knee in the stomach and force him to gasp, that Keane is afforded the chance to get out and regroup with his men. The gun is placed in Nicky's mouth and the trigger pulled. He knows that death isn't going to stop Nicky – unless this is the last death and in that case it really is a solution – but it will slow him and Joe down because, as the van and the examination will have proven, these two men are in love and so Joe's concern will be for the fallen Nicky rather than Keane's escape. He forces Joe into a moment of grief and fear that is more stalling and stunning than anything else that could be thrown his way.

Which leads us to the scene.

**REACTION**

Joe is a little distance from Nicky when it happens. We are focused narratively on the interaction between Keane and Nicky so we do not see what Joe saw in that moment, what his initial reaction and expression was, as our focus remains on Nicky's death. It isn't the first time we've seen him die but this time he does it alone and Joe has to watch. The reaction to this moment tells us that Joe has a healthy respect for death. He doesn't assume that they will come back the next time, he doesn't take for granted that they will heal up and all will be OK.

The Muslim view of death holds the idea that at the moment of dying the angel of death ( _Malk al-Maut_ ) appears to take their souls. While Nicky is not Muslim but rather of Christian origins in any beliefs he may still hold, Joe's view will have roots in this faith. He may still have a belief in there being an afterlife but the idea that death is a 'sleep' until resurrection is an interesting concept in line of the Old Guard's abilities.

If you are to take this idea to the media meta then that means the angel of death is with the team now, something that will have been brought to the fore of Joe's mind upon learning that Andy will die. They are fighting their way out of the building; they have all taken bullets to protect her. But this will have been done with the knowledge and understanding that it will only take one, well aimed shot, for it all to be over.

The Mesopotamian tale, 'Appointment in Samarra', reflects on the idea that you cannot outrun or avoid death. The servant, upon seeing Death in the marketplace who makes a gesture towards him, begs his master to let him ride to Samarra so as not to be at home that night when Death comes for him. The master sends him off and goes to the marketplace to ask Death what the gesture was. It was surprise at seeing the servant at home in Baghdad as Death has an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.

The Quran states that _"Death is inevitable. No matter how much people try to escape death, it will reach everyone"_ (50:19). Nicky had a similar approach in the lab – _"If it is Andromache's time nothing you can do will stop it"_. Death is a very real thing for them and they will not know which death will be their last. If Andy had died in the church then that would have been the first realisation of her mortality just as Lykon's wound was the first for his. Andy has been afforded a gift that they did not expect: she learned through injury that she will no longer heal again. In the escape up to this point they have all been shot in places that would normally be fatal but since they do not know why they cannot die they have no way of knowing when it will end: Andy died in South Sudan, she could have died in France. One bullet to the next. Joe has no way of knowing if this bullet would be Nicky's last, would be the moment that his body doesn't heal.

What if the angel of death was not with them for Andy? What if it was there for Nicky?

Joe's reaction is instinctual, borne of emotion rather than rationality. Although having said that I have already discussed how and why they are not rational when it comes to their deaths because they rationally know that it can end without warning. And as Keane makes his escape Joe moves to Nicky's body (because it is a body at this stage) on his hands and knees. He doesn't care about exposure or protection; he's not interested in Keane's escape or who may be nearby. This is both effective at moving across the short space more efficiently but it also has elements of reverence as Joe kneels by Nicky's head.

**THE FIRST BEAT**

_"All that is on earth will perish." (55:26)_

Joe will literally be kneeling in Nicky's blood – and fragments of skull and brain. Exit wounds are not small and a close-range head shot will not be tidy. Joe's focus remains on the upturned face which would have no visible sign of damage or the brutal after effect of a bullet's exit. In many ways Nicky will look like he is sleeping – both can be viewed in the context of the Muslim view on death (awaiting in hope a literal resurrection) and the more Western concept of death as a 'big sleep'.

In his position of leaning over Nicky's face Joe is placing his weight on his hands but moves one to a near touch of Nicky's face. This is an intimate touch, one of gentleness and affection. He pulls back before actually reaching Nicky's skin – this could be out of fear but it could more easily be explained by the overwhelming nature of having to watch Nicky die and to be alive and breathing while he is not.

They both died on the Kill Floor and came back at the same time. If Nicky did die as a result of the gas attack we saw Joe's response to that in the van when he wanted Nicky to wake up and so slipped to the ancient Italian that would have become Nicky's 'native' tongue – _"Nicolò, destati."_ – because Joe gravitates towards those he loves and so he uses a foreign language to softly implore Nicky to _"wake up"_. It could be that Nicky is simply unconscious and Joe wants him to come to, hence the language of awareness.

Here there is no doubt: Nicky is dead. But he could still 'wake up'. We don't see the impassioned plea that we saw with Andy and Booker in the church – _"You're still in this shitty game with me."_ – but it isn't any less emotional. Andy's desperation for Booker was more about not losing someone else, Quynh and Lykon having been brought back to the forefront of her mind (if they were ever away) and so she won't want to lose anyone else.

In this moment of Nicky's death Joe is feeling it. He is grieving in the way that we could expect even if Nicky weren't immortal, if this were any other action movie and we had just witnessed the sudden death of one of our protagonists. Joe's face is hidden somewhat by the smoke but it is a testament to Marwan's ability that it isn't just Joe's face that shows his emotion: it's his whole body too.

He is hunched over, small and crouching. There is no defiance in his posture which was evident in the Van Scene when he held the gaze of the mocking soldier (right up to the point when his gaze moved to Nicky). The shoulders are not squared but curved in. He is smaller in his physical space and it reflects how smaller his world is when Nicky is not in it.

Which brings me to a little interlude in this essay.

**THE VAN SCENE**

_"He's not my boyfriend. This man is more to me than you can dream. He's the moon when I'm lost in darkness and warmth when I shiver in cold. And his kiss still thrills me even after a millennia. His heart overflows with the kindness of which this world is not worthy of. I love this man beyond measure and reason. He's not my boyfriend. He's all and he's more."_

Boyfriend is a term with such 'light' connotations. A boyfriend is someone you are romantically involved with, potentially physically, and there is a level of agreed commitment between you. When you move in with someone that term usually gets a promotion to 'partner' to indicate the higher level of commitment between you. Terms will give an outsider a shortcut to defining what the relationship between you and your significant other (in itself a term with meaning) is.

The definition of boyfriend is _"a person's regular male companion with whom they have a romantic or sexual relationship"_. Companion itself means someone you spend a lot of time with.

Joe's refusal of the term " _boyfriend_ " is because this doesn't fully express what Nicky is to him. We have never seen Joe without Nicky or vice versa. Whatever plan is formed 'Joe and Nicky' are a combined unit in it. At the start of the movie Andy and Booker are the ones flying solo, Joe and Nicky are the unit waiting to welcome them.

The connotations of being " _lost in darkness_ " and the moon guiding you are as obvious as the image itself but it also shows the significance of Nicky to Joe. The moon waxes and wanes and for a day each 28 it is not visible. In that dark night if you are lost then there is little help for you. When the moon is at its fullest it will provide the best light and guidance and support: when Nicky is at his fullest he gives Joe the best light and guidance and support. Take him away and what happens?

Using Nicky as an analogy of warmth rather than food or water or shelter shows that Nicky's impact on Joe is to serve him when most needed, not something that has to be relied on for existence and happiness (such as food or water – that is, say it with me kids, an unhealthy relationship). Shelter makes you feel safe and so a Nicky-less Joe isn't under threat. Warmth is not always needed but when it is then it is the difference between comfort or not, life or not. In this comparison Joe is expressing that Nicky complements and supports Joe when he is not able to do it for himself and that in that moment it makes all the difference. It's not day-to-day survival with him but something more practical and less co-dependant.

First kisses are the ones that songs are written about. The thrill and the excitement of it. As time moves on and you can no longer count how many times you have kissed them they don't lose meaning or emotion but that rush? It can become a normal. It's only as things change, as relationships evolve, that kisses change. The kiss after an accepted engagement, a marriage, a revelation of pregnancy? They're going to be different to the 'Hey, how was your day?' greeting kiss of an evening. For Joe? His relationship with Nicky is constantly growing and evolving and changing. The relationship they have now is not the same relationship they had in the early 1100s, it can't be. Relationships have to grow and evolve. They are, if you will pardon the comparison, a living thing and will thrive or die under the actions of those in them.

Nicky's heart brings us back to the notion that he is Acts of Service but Joe would 100% point at the meme 'Cinnamon Roll, too good for this world' and declare "It's you!" with unrestrained joy. Nicky cares, his heart goes out to people, and Joe knows it to be the most important and precious thing about him. Joe will love him for that heart and he will protect that heart and he comments to those in the van (and on a wider scale) that Nicky is worth more than them.

So Joe loves him " _beyond measure_ ". There are no words, then or now, in any language, that can express how he feels. If it were a physical thing you could hold then you would not be able to give it a height or width or depth. There is no quantifiable volume to it. He loves Nicky " _beyond reason_ ": to Joe his feelings for Nicky take away all rationality or consideration.

Nicky watches him all through this scene, not looking away once even though Joe is focused mostly on the guard. That's intense and it can be overwhelming but Luca holds it, watching as Marwan unfolds a speech that has gotten praise from all quarters. Interviews with them have shown how Luca found it easy to be in that scene and that moment with a screen partner like Marwan and it can only be easy if you let it. We have two men who are in het relationships who are waxing lyrical about how important the relationship between Joe and Nicky is, how they worked hard to build it, how the chemistry was " _easy_ " according to Marwan after the read with Luca. You don't get to create a relationship like that on screen without putting in the ground work and in-world you don't get a relationship like that without putting in the work too. Joe and Nicky haven't been in a relationship for over 900 years because their options were limited and they just fell in together. Love isn't borne out of circumstance (although it can grow in it): Nicky holding his gaze on Joe takes on a new level of intense – there have already been the posts and comments about how this speech is nothing new to Nicky. He knows how Joe feels about him and he feels the same about his " _incurable romantic_ ".

So no. Not a boyfriend. He's " _all and he's more_ ". Whatever limits you think you can place on love? On what one person can mean to another? Keep going.

**SECOND BEAT**

Kneeling over Nicky's unmoving body, Joe looks away. His moon is gone and he is lost. He is cold. His reason is no more. We saw in the dinner scene how Joe and Nicky kept looking at each other, how they locked eyes after the Kill Floor. These two are centred on each other and in this moment Joe cannot look at Nicky because the enormity of the (possible) loss is too much. He cannot bear it.

When a Muslim dies their face should be turned right facing towards Makkah. While the geography of Merrick's building and the specific location of this room is unknown, the fact that Joe glances to his right is not. This is not Nicky's religion, this is his. This is something that he lived with, died for, all those years ago. Time may have altered his perception of religion and the influence it has on his life but in a moment of overwhelming emotion it would become instinctual.

The Muslim belief about death is that your actions will be weighed up and the good will be resurrected at what is essentially the end of days. For the Old Guard that resurrection is a sign that it is not the end of their days. The loss is still mourned but there is an understanding that the soul, the part of the person that made them who they are, is no longer in the body. The same attitude can be found in Christianity as the soul is removed from the body to 'stand' before God.

In Christianity, the often-quoted sentiment is that death reunites us with Christ but the Scriptures accept and embrace the sadness of a loss. We are encouraged to celebrate what the deceased has gained but we mourn what we have lost.

_"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion of forever." (Psalm 73:26)_

We know that they understand that one day their time will come and they will die. But while they live they have a strength that comes from the other. The Van Scene is clear enough on this. The two of them died together in 1099 and they have created a forever that is woven with the other. Not just in terms of their actions but also in their choices, their love, and the manner in which they have entwined their lives together. The fluid movement in which they work and fight together shows how they give strength and support to each other.

Nicky described meeting each other as " _destiny_ " back in France and you can't tell me that he doesn't apply that same approach to his relationship with Joe. They met as enemies on the battlefield, " _taught to hate_ " each other. When they could not exact out that hate in needless death they had to find answers together, found peace and common ground together, and that lead to love. Lasting and enduring love that has grown and changed over nearly a thousand years.

How could Joe even start to process that loss? Nicky died trying to save and protect him, he died in a place that Booker betrayed them to, he died with the knowledge that Andy was dying. His family was fracturing, pulling apart at the seams. To lose Nicky then pulls at the very core of Joe and so we see him actually turn away. His focus shifts for the first time in the movie because it is all just too much.

It doesn't last.

Joe turns back because he cannot stay looking away. It is a beat, a moment, an instance which is over and we return to the utter devotion and adoration that have been a staple since the very beginning. Joe returns to Nicky the same way the moon always returns, the same way you can look up the next night and hope to see a sliver which promises a return of the full moon to light your way.

He's still pulled in, pulling his focus to Nicky. His everything and more.

And then.

**THE GASP**

_"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted." (Matthew, 5:4)_

Nicky's awakening is sudden and just as violent. He gasps for air as if it is just a continuance of the moment before the gun was in his mouth. (This is an interesting concept: every regeneration has felt like a reversal of the death. The more painful or shocking the death the more painful and shocking the return.) Nicky half sits up but then lies back down, looking up at Joe who is now leaning over him.

But let's go back a second.

When Nicky wakes up Joe's body visibly relaxes. He moves up with the breath of relief and then returns to his position over Nicky's body. Again, Marwan, kudos. He made Joe seem small in those small beats and yet still had somewhere to go physically to reflect the relief that Joe feels when Nicky comes back to him. Joe's hands are placed on the floor either side of Nicky's head and the way that he leans over Nicky has so many layers it's like an ogre. I mean, an onion.

In the first instance it means that Joe is the first face that Nicky sees when he wakes up. His last image would have been Keane pushing the gun into his mouth, it would have been that face that would have been his last. Joe overwrites that memory with one of love, of relief. They are at different angles – each would look upside down – and they are on different levels but they are together. We have Islam and Catholicism, opposite ends of many a battle, but they came together then and now and all the times in between.

In the second instance Joe is protecting Nicky. He will be healing, his head may not be fully healed, so Nicky still has a vulnerability that could leave them exposed in the event of a second attack. When we see them asleep Nicky is the one protecting Joe, Nicky was the second one to shield Andy with his body against the bullets. Nicky is a protector (Acts of Service again) but in this moment he needs protecting. He needs a moment for his body, his gift, to do its thing.

He is gasping for air, he will still feel any pain or shock that he felt just before his death (as evidenced by Booker in the church), and there will be a moment of disorientation as he processes what is happening. Through it all Joe ensures he stays in Nicky's line of sight, dominating his vision, and ensuring that he is kept safe.

Both religions talk about the resurrection of the 'worthy' for want of a simpler word. Basically put, if you were good and devout and honest enough you get to come back for the eternal life in paradise part. Being somewhat immortal can be seen as an eternal life but they know it will have an end. When is the only question and is that not a question we all have? But the idea of being 'worthy' can be tied to this: if they come back then they will be able to continue to do what they have been doing. Fighting for what they believe is right and trying to do some good. In that sense the idea of coming back to this 'eternal life' can be a confirmation of this worthiness that they have as God or Allah or Whoever has deemed that they are worthy to continue this task.

**THE ARMS**

In his position, Joe cannot physically touch Nicky. He is using his body as a shield and as comfort and so it falls to Nicky to make the contact. He reaches up.

To reach up for something gives connotations of something being out of reach, of having reverence for it, of gentleness and affection (you 'reach up' for someone's cheek or to brush away a hair no matter your relevant heights). It's about where your hand/arm goes from its natural position. Nicky's emotions have two layers here: internal and external.

Internally, he's here. He came back. It isn't his time this time and so he gets another day, another moment with Joe. There will be relief.

Externally, he knows what Joe has gone through. It is unclear whether Joe died in the lab – Nicky's line about " _As much as I love watching you sleep, I'm glad you're awake_ " can be read in different ways – but even if he didn't Nicky will have the same feelings and reactions to Joe's death as we have just seen in a few seconds in Joe reacting to Nicky's. These two are in this together. So there will be love and reassurance in there too.

" _Sono qui_ " indeed.

Nicky's hands closing around Joe's arm is a secure way of latching on to someone: you have more grip if you hold them on the arm and they you. He is holding on to Joe to ensure that Joe understands that Nicky is not leaving him, is not letting go. They hold each other's gaze for a beat, taking this moment for them. Joe's left hand has moved, clasping Nicky's arm in the same secure hold. He's not letting go either.

**"LET'S GO. ANDY."**

With three words Nicky breaks the moment. There is something more important than them, than what they have been through. Nicky's heart, beating again and " _overflowing with kindness_ " brings the focus to their friend, their leader, their sort-of-mother, and immediately they both switch into action modes. But we still see their closeness, the intimacy and affection between them, as when they leave Nicky is still coughing, still not quite breathing right. Joe, having grabbed the weapon, touches Nicky's shoulder once, gently, then takes the lead. He will make sure that Nicky is protected until he can protect himself.

Which loops me back to the Van Speech.

_"The warmth when I shiver in cold."_

A good relationship will be fluid and will not have fixed roles. You will move and adapt with your partner, being what they need when they need it. Some days they will need a champion, some days they will want your help. Some days they will want (need) to be left alone. You change and you grow and adapt. Nicky is Acts of Service. He cares and he protects and he puts himself between Nicky and anyone coming in to where they are at their most vulnerable. But here Nicky is the one who needs protecting, if only for the next few minutes while he recovers, and so Joe slips easily and reassuringly into the front, gun in hand. Because he will defend Nicky to the end.

**SPECIAL MENTION**

_"You shot Nicky. You shouldn't have done that."_

Joe tells Keane off like he's a child, like an infant. Like he doesn't understand in the same way that the guards in the van didn't understand. Keane put a gun into the mouth of the one person that would make Joe hear _Kill Bill_ sirens on repeat.

But it also speaks to the fact that Keane didn't have to kill Nicky. It was done to aid Keane's escape, not for any kind of end to a battle or to best an opponent. It was tactical rather than operational which is somehow worse. That is not the honour of battle or of war. Joe's gentle admonishment illustrates how little understanding Keane has for how actions and events and reactions and consequences play out. Joe has lived for nearly a thousand years and he thinks he gets it – the final scene with Copley shows it to him – but Keane did what he wanted and didn't play it out. Didn't think that if he killed someone who wouldn't stay dead that it might mean they come for him in a very targeted and personal way. We'd already seen Joe's anger towards Booker for putting them into that position but that anger isn't here. Why would it be? They don't have the same shared history, centuries of companionship and familiarity. You don't get angry at a child for doing a silly and impulsive thing. You just calmly explain that they shouldn't have done that and proceed to continue with the consequences of their action.

Disclaimer: I am not, in any way, shape, or form, suggesting that Joe's next action be used to discipline misbehaving and irrational children. Or anyone really.

A bullet to the head is quick, so at least Joe shows Keane that same mercy of a quick death. With a flip and the snap of a neck it is sharp and sudden and complete. Joe puts Keane onto the ground and towers over him the same way Keane did to Nicky.

Karma is firmly on Joe's side.

**CONCLUSION**

Joe and Nicky are what you could say the word 'soulmates' was coined for. They love each other beyond any normal comprehension and have built a relationship that has not only survived but thrived from antagonistic beginnings through to the present day. They are a pair completely in sync who know how to play to their strengths but also when, where, and how to concede this to the other one.

They are, in the truest sense of the word, a partnership.

In the brief moment of Nicky's death we see Joe's utterly physical and complete reaction to it in a near-wordless way. The physicality of Joe's positioning and movement around first the body and then the living and breathing Nicky reflect the run of emotions being experienced in addition to the undercurrent of love that underpins anything that Joe does in regard to Nicky. Their respective religions and histories have echoes in the actions and reactions of each character. The micro actions of Marwan reinforce the depth of Joe's feelings for Nicky in a complementary manner to the Van Speech and the reaction Nicky gives reinforces the undercurrent we have seen from the Kill Floor through their sleeping positions and casual flirting that he is just as in love with his Maghrib soldier.

A family is more than blood, it is emotion and action and choices. Joe and Nicky choose each other, their emotions are wound into each other, and we have this secure 'couple' in it. They provide a balance between Booker's emotion and Andy's drive, embodying tempering versions of each. The fact that they have each other enables them to ensure that they do not drift too far from the cause: Nicky is still hopeful he will one day find a Baklava that Andy can't identify but rational enough to know that things come to an end. Joe is emotional enough to throw out a monologue that raises the bar for love across all genders and relationships but controlled enough for them not to overpower him in that final showdown with Keane.

tl;dr – this scene is fucking amazing and it shows so much of them as characters and their relationships and how invested in their roles Marwan and Luca are

**Author's Note:**

> Come play with me on Tumblr. I'm [beautifulhigh](http://beautifulhigh.tumblr.com)


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